The learning objectives for this chapter
are familiar ization with the duties of
the officer of the watch lo.w
understanding the responsibility of
being in charge of a navigation watch
the officer of the watch is the Masters
representative and is in charge of the
bridge during his watch and until
properly relieved the primary duties can
be divided into three groups
watchkeeping including
collision-avoidance navigation
communications he is at all times
responsible for safe navigation and for
complying with all statutory
requirements including the coal Rex the
watchkeeping duties of the officer of
the watch include maintaining a lookout
and general surveillance of the ship
collision avoidance in compliance with
color eggs recording bridge activities
and making regular checks on the vessels
position and efficiency of the
navigation equipment in use procedures
for handing over the watch and calling
for support on the bridge should be in
place and fully understood and accepted
by the officer of the watch the
navigational judges of the officer of
the watch are based upon the need to
execute the passage plans safely and
monitor the progress of the ship against
that plan and the Masters standing
orders it is the navigators duty to
cross-reference all navigation
information whenever possible in order
to detect instrument errors and
inaccuracies and minimize the effect of
mistakes
with the introduction of the global
maritime distress and safety system
GM DSS radio communications have become
an important element in the functions of
the bridge officer of the watch who will
be responsible for maintaining a
continuous radio watch and see during
distress incidence one of the personnel
qualified in radio communications should
be assigned primary responsibility for
radio communications the officer of the
watch will normally be responsible for a
number of duties in addition to the
primary duties of watchkeeping
navigation and communication examples of
such duties our cargo monitoring general
communications engine monitoring
supervision of ship safety systems etc
care should be exercised to prioritize
responsibilities and any additional
duties should under no circumstances
interfere with the exercise of primary
duties in compliance with the coal Rex a
proper lookout should be kept at all
times in order to maintain a continuous
vigilance by sight and hearing as well
as by all other available means
according to St CW the officer of the
watch maybe the soul lookout during
daylight hours if weather visibility
traffic density workload and other
relevant safety parameters allow it
they're of the watch must maintain a
high level of general awareness about
the ship and its day-to-day operations
strict compliance with the colleagues
should always be executed and the
correct lights shapes and other signals
displayed at all times
the officer of the watch should not
expect all other ships to show correct
signals or even comply with the rules at
all times and therefore great care
should be taken when passing another
ship with close-range periodic checks of
navigational equipment according to a
proven and established operating and
maintenance system followed by good
operating procedures and checking
against alternative methods checking
electronic equipment and computer-based
systems at regular intervals are not
only recommend it but vital to operate a
ship safely standard operational checks
on navigation equipment should be
undertaken when preparing for c and
after a sea passage prior to port entry
after lengthy ocean passages and before
entering restricted coastal waters it is
also important to check that full ahead
and astern engine and steering
functionality is available while
underway good practice requires the
officer of the watch to check that all
orders are being repeated back and
correctly followed
the officer of the watch should
undertake daily tests and checks on the
bridge equipment including the following
manual steering should be tested at
least once a watch when the automatic
pilot is in use gyro and magnetic
compass errors should be checked at
least once a watch and after major
course alteration compass repeaters
should be checked for synchronization
including repeat is mounted off the
bridge
checks on electronic equipment should
both confirmed that the piece of
equipment is functioning properly and
that it is successfully communicating to
any other bridge system to which it is
connected electronic equipment systems
should be checked to ensure that
configuration settings important for
correct interfacing between pieces of
equipment have not changed to ensure
adequate performance information from
electronic equipment should always be
compared and verified against
information from different independent
sources never totally rely on electronic
navigational aids because they are only
aids to navigation and no substitute to
conventional methods and keeping a good
lookout the arrow w should not hand over
the watch if there is any reason to
believe that the relieving officer is
unfit to or is temporarily unable to
carry out his duties effectively and
over should never take place during any
maneuver only when it is completed and
the ship is in a safe position before
taking over the watch the relieving
officer must be satisfied as to the
ship's position and confirm its intended
track course and speed and engine
controls as appropriate as well as
noting any dangers to navigation
expected to be encountered during his
watch
the officer of the watch should execute
the passage plan as prepared and monitor
the progress of the ship relative to
that plan if a temporary deviation from
the voice plan is made he should return
to the plan as soon as it is safe to do
so if the captain decides to deviate
from the voyage plan the plan needs to
be formally amended and a briefing on
the new plan given to the other members
of the bridge team good navigational
practice demands that the officer of the
watch understand the capabilities and
limitations of the navigational aids and
systems being used and continually
monitors their performance uses the
echosounder to monitor changes in water
depth uses dead reckoning techniques to
check position fixes cross-checks
position fixes using independent sources
of information whenever possible uses
visual navigation aids to support
electronic position fixing methods does
not become over-reliant on automated
navigational equipment checks instrument
calculated positions against the visual
positions whenever possible when in any
doubt call the master care must be
exercised when taking geographical
positions from electronic position
fixing systems like GPS and plotting
these onto chance the officer of the
watch should bear in mind that if the
chart datum differs from the date amused
by the position fixing system a datum
correction must be applied before the
position is plotted on the chart in
cases where charts are based on very old
survey data electronic position should
be treated with great caution and even
greater importance given to visual and
or radar navigation to maintain the
safety of the ship
using uncorrect adju PS positions
together with all Survey maps can be
very dangerous in restricted areas and
even when corrected to the appropriate
datum should be used with great caution
as a general rule navigation should be
carried out on the most suitable
large-scale chart available and the
position of the ship should be fixed at
frequent intervals visual and radar
position fixing including parallel
indexing should be used whenever
possible in coastal waters routing
schemes ship reporting systems and VTS
may require reports and communication
knowledge of the ships draft stability
conditions and maneuvering
characteristics are all important
parameters to be taken into account
the pilot is expected to have special
knowledge about navigation in local
waters depending on local pilotage laws
the master may delegate the conduct of
the ship to the pilot who directs the
navigation of the ship in close
cooperation with the officer of the
watch and the master the presence of a
pilot does not relieve the master or the
officer of the watch of their normal
navigational judges and obligations for
the safety of the ship both should be
prepared to exercise their right not to
proceed to a point where the ship is put
in a dangerous situation the safe
progress of the ship along the plan
tracks should be closely monitored at
all times
this includes amongst other things
fixing the ship's position and checking
the under kill clearance verbal orders
from the pilot must also be checked to
confirm that they have been correctly
carried out when the master leaves the
bridge the officer of the watch should
always seek clarification from the pilot
when in doubt as to the pilots actions
and intentions if an explanation is not
given to the satisfaction of the officer
of the watch he or she should notify the
master immediately taking whatever
action is necessary before the master
arrives it is recommended that
communication between the pilot and the
bridge team is conducted in English
to comply with the color x ships should
at all times proceed at safe speed in
restricted visibility safe speed may
require a reduction in service speed to
reduce the stopping distance of the ship
speed changes may sometimes be the most
suitable action to take to avoid a
collision as opposed to altering course
safe speed means that the ship is
proceeding at the most suitable speed
taking into account the prevailing
conditions of visibility traffic density
navigational hazards weather conditions
and any other parameters which may
affect the safety of the ship today
ships are steered by autopilot most of
the time mon autopilot and track keeping
systems steer the ship with high course
accuracy and very little use of rudder
however in areas of high traffic density
during reduced visibility and other
potentially hazardous situations the
helmsman should be available on the
bridge ready to take over steering
control immediately changing to manual
steering should be done in good time
it should also be routinely and
regularly tested in open water to
confirm that all is in good order the
officer of the watch must be familiar
with the operation of the steering
systems so that no delays incurred in
the event of a hasty changeover being
required the officer of the watch is
responsible for compliance with the
radio watch keeping requirements of
Seoul s the ITU radio regulations and
any local watchkeeping rules the
following basic principles apply to all
communication carried out by radio
absolute priority should be given to
de-stress urgency and safety
communications
interference with other radio users
should be avoided frequencies should be
used to their correct purpose
the officer of the watch should be
the chips have search-and-rescue
obligations under so less ships that are
in a position to provide assistance on
receiving a signal from any source that
persons are in distress and c are bound
to proceed with all speed to their
assistance during search-and-rescue
operations ship-to-ship communication
should be by VHF or medium frequency
satellite channels should be kept free
for communications with rescue
coordination centers